Brides and grooms want awesome imagery from their wedding, period. They want the unscripted moments captured, but they also want a photographer that can get very creative during a
portrait session. That’s why couples everywhere are donning their wedding finery and not only descending into caves, but plunging into breakers, walking through abandoned amusement parks,
wandering through cornfields, wading into forest streams and chasing other wild pursuits in an increasingly popular ritual and edgy extension of wedding photojournalism called Trash the Dress
(TTD).

Destination weddings offer stunning scenery and exotic atmosphere, providing the conditions needed to enhance those fabulous memories. However, since these types of weddings are often at resort locations in foreign countries, they’re subject to the unusual and the unexpected.

Every newly betrothed couple assumes that their event will go off without a hitch. But there’s one big mitigating factor in this lofty assumption. Namely, your day’s success is entirely dependent on other humans. And, unfortunately, that species is still a few sardines short of a bucket of chum.

Do you ever catch yourself dreaming about the perfect shot? Of course, the elements never fall into place as perfectly in real life as we would like them to but it never hurts to dream. Some WPJA members pre-visualize a few of the shots they’d like to get when documenting a wedding, whether it is days or seconds before the actual pictures are snapped.

Couples hire wedding photojournalists for their narrative approach to photography, but they?re also expected to get the more formal portraits shots. Balancing those competing expectations is an ongoing challenge and a somewhat tricky proposition that not only permeates the wedding day, but also spills over to your Web site design and public portfolio. How do you present your images in a way that pleases portrait-centric clients while staying true to your esthetics and attracting new business?

Capturing real moments and fleeting, intense emotions is almost always what Matt Kim has been driven to do. And while he has not always been welcome among his subjects on the streets, he is embraced and respected among wedding-day celebrants as he captures those authentic slices of life in churches and reception venues.

Top ten professional tips and techniques that your wedding guests can use to kick their personal photos up a few notches, while ensuring that their efforts will not detract from the “official” photos produced by the hired photographer.

Shooting wide vs. long runs to the heart of how you approach wedding photojournalism—in the storytelling, composition, visceral message, emotion conveyed, and even in how your subjects relate to one another.

It wasn't until Michelle Frankfurter was in college that she found her voice in photojournalism, and ultimately, a taste for adventure and discovery. That has since led her down an exciting road of documenting humanity where, along the way, her work has been greatly appreciated by thousands.

Sergio Lopez prides himself on being a visual storyteller. Although he has been a photographer only a few years, his work has garnered awards and attracted clients from all over America and Mexico, where he also shoots numerous destination weddings.

These days untold numbers of wedding photographers state in their bios that they have a background in photojournalism. Yet many do not really have any actual professional experience as photojournalists.

A superior biography will give your clientele a compelling perspective on what has defined and molded your career, communicating your education, major accomplishments and unique skills that have made you the photographer you are.

Getting ready can be a monumental task for the bride and her entourage, and an event in itself. The outflow of elation, anxiety, nostalgia and hope that accompany these activities create an ideal time for your wedding photojournalist to capture those timeless moments.

How you conduct your search for a wedding photojournalist can make a big difference in ensuring that you’re more than pleased with your photographic experience on the big day, as well as with the moments and memories captured in pictures.

As with the stricter side of wedding photojournalism, creative portraiture requires the practiced ability to anticipate and to be in the right place at the right time, a skill that becomes intuitive with more experience and the right chops.

Like many wedding photojournalists, Evrim Icoz entered the field looking for a change. After graduating from Duke University with a Master’s in Computer Engineering, Icoz spent seven years working for Intel before he realized he needed a different kind of challenge.

The emotional aspect of a wedding isn’t just about the love between the bride and groom. Family plays an important part in many weddings, and older relatives bring a deeper meaning to the ceremony and festivities.

Throughout most of his life, Brian Tsai never kept a camera too far off hand. As a result, new friends would quickly pick up on the fact that he was the shutterbug of the group. “I have always been the guy with the camera,” Tsai admits.

A wedding is not just the culmination of a couple’s commitment. It’s also the final product of much planning and preparation. Yet despite the best-laid plans, some chaos is almost inevitable at some point along the way.

Many wedding photographers use music to some degree on their Web sites. Proponents say that music helps create and enhance the emotional experience, and also serves to brand the wedding photographer’s approach to the craft.

Ethnic weddings, in addition to providing a change of pace from the more typical ceremonies that wedding photojournalists know well, also offer a rich visual palette and deep cultural rituals that can offer range to your portfolio.

With very little planning and the encouragement of admirers, Stacey Kane's transformation from photo hobbyist to full-fledged wedding photojournalist was not part of a pre-planned career path. In fact, she says that she is “forever grateful” to her friends, family and the complete strangers who offered everything from suggestions to forthright pleas that she become a professional photographer.

Many photographers have found that the groom, the best man, the groomsmen and numerous other dudes contributing to the big day often serve as provocateurs and especially interesting subjects for wedding photojournalism.

Having a second shooter at a wedding introduces issues related to qualifications, shooting responsibilities, usage rights and more. Here’s a look at second shooter experiences and best practices, aided by input from a few of the WPJA’s accomplished members.

Christobal Perez understands the power of photojournalism and the rewards of helping others. And, he believes that everything happens for a reason. Those basic tenants, along with a strong work ethic and an unwavering drive to be true to himself, have effectively steered his life from migrant worker’s son to award-winning photographer.

One of the often overlooked, and maybe under-appreciated settings for photos during your wedding day occurs while the bride, groom and other members of the wedding party are in a car, limo, party bus or other form of transportation.

Quick thinking and a constant awareness of light—helped along by anticipation, some serendipity and a little luck—can result in direct, dramatic illumination that helps capture the full beauty and drama of the wedding day’s once-in-a-lifetime moments.

At first glance, Heather Mabry’s photography career looks direct, even planned. In fact, her path was a burst of creative combustion that propelled her from fine art photography and a financial career to wedding photojournalism.

While wedding party stereotypes still exist, most people realize there’s more to being a bridesmaid than looking beautiful, more to being a groomsman than adding life and excitement to the reception party.

As one of three certainties in life, taxes cannot come as a surprise to any wedding photographer, although you can certainly be forgiven if you push the thought of them into the back of your brain. As a creative professional, you'd likely want to devote most of your energy toward honing your craft.

With all the attention heaped upon the bride and groom, a portrait session away from the crowds can help capture private moments between them. It gets the couple away from the pressure that comes with their wedding.

A little advanced communication and planning with your photographer can go a long way, smoothing the way for everyone involved - from the wedding party and guests, to the creative pros assisting with the festivities.

For many wedding photojournalists, documenting weddings is not a full-time job. In fact, they often turn their cameras elsewhere as part of other gigs, which can range from landscape and nature photography, to shooting images for newspapers, ad agencies and magazines.

Matt McGraw went to college to become a weatherman, not a photojournalist. But kind of like a perfect storm, the conditions were exactly right for turning a boyhood pursuit into a thriving career, almost spontaneously.

For brides and grooms watching their costs, planning a wedding usually involves making a few well-considered tradeoffs in selecting the venue, the number of guests, the food, the type of entertainment and, of course, the photography.

Greg Gibson has won two Pulitzer Prizes and has received awards and acclaim for his photographic work during the first Gulf War in Kuwait. His pictures have been published in nearly every major news publication in the world.